In 1993, Peggy started West River Academy and it has grown from a one-woman operation to a team of 12. When families are searching for creative ways to educate their children outside of the school system, Peggy draws upon her thirty years of experience and offers guidance and support to make the homeschooling journey easy and fun.

Peggy and her husband, Rich, live in Dana Point, California. When she’s not in her office, you may find her out on the water, paddleboarding or kayaking.

Karen Abe is Peggy’s eldest daughter and grew up being unschooled as West River Academy’s first student. In February 2015, she joined Peggy at West River Academy to assist her with the growing school. With her sisters, Stacey and Rachel, joining soon afterwards, the family business began expanding rapidly. She is now the Business and Group Manager of West River Academy, working with the administrators of our groups of students all around the world. She also consults with current and prospective families.

Karen’s experiences of living abroad in Costa Rica with her family for several years and being the mother of unschoolers Jason, age 8, and Lily, age 5, help her to connect and relate to families who choose to live unconventional and free lives!

Stacey is our Registrar, helping families enroll, transfer records, order other services and complete transcripts. She is the point of contact for onboarding and enrolled families.
 
When Stacey isn’t working, she can be found walking her little dog, Milo, and enjoying life in the Colorado mountains or traveling.

In 2017 there was a need for more online presence for West River Academy and, as an artist and Communications major, Rachel was able to fill that role. She is passionate about sharing the heart of West River Academy with others and works hard to create a sense of community for our families. She produces the monthly newsletter, organizes Social Hour and handles our Social Media. She also manages the Graduation Program and Teen Mentorship Program. Working with high school students has become a meaningful experience for her and she loves consulting with teens as they prepare to graduate. 

In her free time, Rachel enjoys traveling and beach activities with her friends in Southern California.

Danielle manages our Legalization department, getting documents notarized or sent for Apostilles and then mailed to families. She also assists with incoming students’ previous transcripts, entering the information into our transcript builder and helping with finalizing transcripts. Danielle joined our team in 2019 and her Denver office is the administrative center of the school.

Danielle’s busy life revolves around her husband and two children. She is a devoted mom and cheerleading coach.

In 2020, Raelyn came on board to assist Stacey, Rachel and Danielle with transcript processing and school record transfers. She works with graduating students to produce stellar final transcripts! She graduated from the University of Hawai’i with Rachel and now manages our office in Hawai’i.

Raelyn spends her free time with her family, watching her young son’s rapid development and learning with him every day.

“Mili” manages groups that are affiliated with West River Academy in Latin America. She helps them to enroll their students and receive transcripts. She also works with our Spanish-speaking graduation candidates and hosts our December graduation ceremony.

Mili joined us in 2022 after a successful career as an opera singer with Teatro Colón. She lives in Argentina with her husband, Roger.

Monica joined us in 2023 and is the voice of the Spanish translation of our monthly podcast. She also consults with Spanish-speaking families in need of guidance. Monica’s family has been unschooling through West River Academy for 10 years, and she is highly qualified to share her expertise through consultations. You may be interested in her unschooling blog and her YouTube channel.

Monica lives in Argentina with her two sons and her husband, Alex. She loves music, plays the piano and the guitar, and sings.

Milena joined the West River Academy team in 2025 to assist with evaluating incoming students’ previous records and entering them into our transcript builder. She also assists Mili and Roger in the Spanish-speaking Group Department.

Milena graduated from film school with a degree in book editing. She has a special interest in literature, publishing and combined arts. She is a producer of creative ideas oriented to promote art, free education and culture. She loves cats and nature!

Roger joined our team to assist Mili with group administration and tech support.

They enjoy the best of both city and country life, raising chickens and other “pets” on their property.

Maté joined us in 2023 to offer tech support with enrollment and services. His expertise has greatly contributed to an improved user experience for our families.

Maté lives in a rural town in Spain, where he spends his time restoring a stone off-grid home and caring for his two dogs. He makes sure to balance his computer work with time spent in nature.

Alex works full-time in tech and offers his assistance in his spare time. He is married to Mónica and they have two sons, who have been unschooling with West River Academy their entire lives.

He enjoys fixing things and creating new gadgets with his 3D printer.